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View Full Version : So, these Sooner men, eh...



the_ouskull
12/31/2011, 06:26 PM
The casual OU fan, not necessarily a casual basketball fan, mind you, browsing the current men's basketball roster, may have a reaction similar to these:

(NSFW)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXaqDcb51tI&feature=related

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..but can you blame them? Unlike teams of recent past, there are no real "name" guys on this team. There is no Blake. There is no Hollis. There is no Eddie. These Sooner men are playing as a team because that's all they've really got. I mean, sure, we could even make them all sports-movie like, and give them their stereotypical roles, but that would be ridiculously chee...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-z8xPtifm0

That's right, Randy, we're too late...

Now, cue the music to listen to while you read these snippets. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEDISMnosLM&feature=related

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The Star

http://cdn-three.thefreshxpress.com/freshxp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/above_the_rim.jpg

(pictured l. to r. - Horrible Movie Metaphor, Kyle Watson)

Look, if you'd have told me before the season that Steven Pledger was going to shoot over 50%, I'd have probably agreed with you. He has always been a fairly low-risk, decent reward type of player. He's not going to win you many games, but he wouldn't lose many either. If you'd have also said he was going to average almost 20 points per game while doing so, I would probably STILL be laughing. Like, even through the first 11 games. He has absolutely transformed his game. He's gone from just being a spot-up shooter to being able to both shoot off of any situation, both spot-up situations, pull-up jumpers, and coming off of screens, curls, and fades. If he's open, he's got the green light, and I haven't felt good about a player having that light in a long time; at least, not a perimeter player. (I miss you, too, James Mayden...) Now, I'm saying all of this despite his poor showing at Cincinnati. We will go as far as he can keep us in games scoring the basketball... and helping take care of it. He's not a POOR defender, but he's not good enough to be throwing the ball away casually from time to time. If he can continue to pick and choose his spots the way he has, and keep his percentages high, and continue to work on his ball-handling, distribution, and turnovers, he could be an All-Conference-type player next season. Maybe even THIS season if he handles conference play the way he has the non-conference slate.

The "I Do the Dirty Work" Guy

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/50494_129976632365_1737321_n.jpg

(sorry I couldn't find a pic of him in his Angel Beach High baby blues...)

Averaging over 10 boards a game, Romero Osby didn't exactly "come from nowhere." He was here last year. He just couldn't play. Now he can, and BOY can he! He's putting up 10 points and 10 boards a game on close to 50% shooting. I think that he gets screwed over on the whole "a tipped ball counts as a shot attempt" thing, though. But, since he's averaging over 3, almost 4 offensive rebounds a game, I'll take that. When you consider that Pledger is leading our team in field goal percentage, and then our two main posts, Osby, and Fitz, who I'll talk about in a minute, are following up a few percentage points behind him, I like the fact that they're willing to crash the offensive glass. But, that's what Osby's role on this team is. He's the guy who needs to be our energy guy. He's our enforcer, just like Meat from Porky's. He's a double-double guy. He'll set the mean pick. He'll crash the glass. He'll be active on defense. I wish that he was more active as a shot-blocker, but he's not a natural shot-blocker, and if he went out of his way to try to be, then, like Fitz, it would take him out of position for the rebound. Osby has figured this out. Fitz... eh... he's workin' on it.

The Role Player

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nY72TdvmuKk/R_WnDaK1AGI/AAAAAAAAAWw/eIevjpygiy0/s400/Hoosiers.jpg

(pictured l. to r. - C.J. Washington, Coach Kruger)

On a team full of role players, for someone to stand out being a role player is kind of odd. But, here we have it. In only 10 minutes per game, this guy is coming in, averaging around 5 boards per game and shooting rarely, but at a 45% clip when he does. He comes in, crashes the glass, defends the basket a little bit, and then hits the bench again. No complaints. No problems.

You could pretty much lump Casey Arent into this here as well. He's not much of a player, at all, but he's all about coming in, doing what he's supposed to do - in Arent's case, rebound, contest shots, and be generally disruptive; sadly, also to our offense... he needs to not, EVER shoot a contested shot, much like our man Strap in the pic up there. Sadly, Arent doesn't have God watching over him, so he's going to need to get Coach Dale's foot in his arse, I guess...

Dirty Work, Part II - Less Skilled, Same Work

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/6019818254_8401c6b10b.jpg

I'm not sure that Fitz can lose enough weight to be athletic enough to make it to the NBA. But he has certainly transformed himself as far as being a successful college basketball player goes. Wow. He's lost a small child, and it shows. He's able to hedge on screens better. He's able to play more straight-up man-to-man defense without being so foul-prone... but, he's also a vital cog in making the whole machine work. He's the guy that, no matter what, is going to be solid and consistent on this team. I'd like to see him become more aggressive in going after rebounds; maybe move his feet more instead of just plucking what's within his (considerable, given his size) reach. I'd also like to see him challenge more shots in the post. Not go for blocks, mind you, but do more to challenge shots than to contest the initial positioning. Given where he was when he got to campus, and where he is now, I can't wait to see where he goes when he goes... but I hope it's not anytime soon.

He just needs to become more aware of what's going on around him when he puts the ball on the floor in the post. He's still falling for high school tricks.

The Enigma

http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/cmp/jamcentral/img/photos/nba1.jpg

(pictured l. to r. ballers who have lost their powers. not pictured: Cam Clark)

So, what's the deal here? Is he injured? Was he not as good as everybody thought? (Hoped..) He's shooting 40% from the field, (bleh) 55% from the line, (barf) and he's not really showing any signs of improvement on either end of the floor. This is a kid who, when I watched him last season, looked lost very often - as did the majority of the team... but at least when HE was lost, he still looked like he gave a sh*t. Now, I'm not seeing that same drive; that same fire. Is it possible that he doesn't like Coach Kruger? His minutes are way down this season, but not enough to explain the drop in his averages... or the (seeming) lack of improvement across the board. I think that, after the cluster-f*ck of last season, he's still playing a bit gun-shy this season. He's having trouble settling down and trusting the offense, and it's showing in his shot selection. And, because he's not lighting it up, I think that's also killing his energy. Nobody as athletic as he is, with his size, should be averaging only slightly over 3 boards per game. ESPECIALLY when your shot isn't falling. You were a highly-ranked player coming out of high school, Cam, but high school is over. This is college, sir. Step up, please. Casey Arent is averaging the same number of boards per game as you, only in about half of the playing time, and with the added bonus of never having played D-1 ball before this year.

I'd like to see him get more involved with the offense in the high post area. This would give him enough space to put the ball on the floor and use his athleticism in a more positive way than keeping him all the way out on the perimeter does. I don't think he's strong enough to post up consistently, or I'd like to see some more of that out of him as well. Even players his own size can push him off of the block fairly easily; especially if the ball's late coming.

The Guards

http://www.411mania.com/siteimages/thereplacements_73084.jpg

(pictured l. to r. - Sam Grooms, Ted Logan, Carl Blair)

My problem with our point guards, aside from the fact that neither of them can shoot, or play defense particularly well, is that Blair plays 15 minutes per game less than Grooms... yet averages the same number (roughly) of turnovers per game. (And yes, Grooms had a VERY rough game at Cincy... a lot of these guys did...) Grooms is obviously the better player of the two, but, with our deficiencies of personnel, Blair is still in line for some decent minutes. Making it even more painful... Blair is also obviously the better, and really, only semi-capable shooter of the two of them. Grooms is more of the Rajon Rondo-type of point guard, dropping off assists, and crashing the boards, and, - WOAH, WOAH - Shoot? F*ck that. Blair is more of the Terrell Brandon-type point guard... only, unlike Brandon, who was an excellent shooter, and could also take care of and distribute the ball, Blair can't really do any of those things well. So, he's more like John Bagley than Terrell Brandon, I guess.

This team will go as far as Pledger takes them, scoring-wise, yes, but unless our two (and let's face it, they're both our guys...) point guards start taking better care of the basketball, start becoming more of a threat from the perimeter, and start making the right decisions in our pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop game, especially with Pledger and Clark, we're not going to scare anybody.

Truth told, as a Rockets fan, I see a lot of Kyle Lowry in both of our guards, especially Grooms... If Grooms could develop any kind of consistency from his jumper, he could become a scary player come conference season. Will he? Well, he hasn't yet, and the "easy" games are out of the way now, so I guess we'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Overall, I could actually see this team sliding into a tournament spot. Do I THINK it'll happen...? Probably not. I think we're a year away. But, this team is good enough to make it interesting, and, maybe, good enough to make it. I don't think we will, but if they do, I wouldn't be (too) surprised either. Now, NEXT season...? Look out. I don't think we'll lose enough to kill us, and we're going to keep seeing gains as long as Coach has this team playing this way. It's amazing how a little bit of adversity brings the real players out of the woodwork, no?

So, that's my team recap to date. Sorry I broke format for the point guards, but guards hold a special place in my heart, and right now, we have two playing the role of one, and that's a problem to be settled soon, hopefully; especially since the two of them possess very different skills, despite being very alike in many other ways - re: size, athleticism, etc...

Anyway, enjoy, or hate it. I don't care. Kisses.

the_ouskull

S.PadreIsl.Sooner
12/31/2011, 10:20 PM
Skull, that was very well thought out and put together. Thanks for the hard work.

OUmillenium
1/1/2012, 12:19 PM
Excellent, thanks

birddog
1/1/2012, 01:04 PM
see, it's almost too easy.

the_ouskull
1/1/2012, 01:26 PM
see, it's almost too easy.

You're tellin' me. I feel like I cheated with that lazy piece-of-sh*t. It only took an hour or so. I'm a bad, bad Skull... =(

..or I just got old. Either way, same endgame.

Ton Loc
1/1/2012, 05:11 PM
Big time post in an hour. Plus, a Teen Wolf reference without Teen Wolf. :pride:

StoopTroup
1/1/2012, 05:29 PM
So will we all have to now put together a hour and a 1/2 post to try and skull**** The Skull via YouTubes and Movie references?

Skull has just copycatted Dave Berry in a kind of strange Sports related way and it is indeed a very worthy Thread.

http://www.davebarry.com/

Nice work Skull.

Boomer.....
1/1/2012, 06:06 PM
Nice write-up Skull. It's great watching an OU basketball team who works together and plays like a team. Lon is the man.

Collier11
1/2/2012, 02:42 AM
This team will win 20 games, not sure if that means a tourney bid or not but I like what I see. Grooms is so much better than Blair it is pathetic, Clark is confusing, and Osby is a beast. We are so close to being a big time program again I can taste it, I think thats what that is

badger
1/2/2012, 01:35 PM
Fun post :)

They have really been a fun team to watch. I'm glad OU seems to be making a huge effort to get both mens and womens basketball on local television this season.

the_ouskull
1/3/2012, 07:44 PM
Never read him a day in my life. I'll check out that site, though. I mean, I'm not an idiot. I've heard of the guy, but I haven't (knowingly) read any of his stuff.

I don't FEEL like a copycat. Maybe HE copied ME, hm?

(Sh*t, I was joking, but come to think of it, I've been doing these things for a decade plus now... I lost that college-aged hatred in my heart that's required to put together a really good anti-Tejas post the week before the game, but dormant vitriol is still vitriol. It's jus' sleepin' now. :D)

the_ouskull